Hi Dr. Jonsson, I am wondering the following things in general about the ADC industry:

–Are folding amplifiers a new concept? Why when I look at the TI website, for example, they do not sell any ADCs with a folding amplifier architecture?
–How open are the big houses to outside designs? If a small design house comes up with someone innovative, do the big houses adopt, buy-out, or ignore the small houses?
–What is the main difference between academic specs and industrial specs? How would I “convert” between the two? It seems like when I read academic papers, they claim high speeds at a certain bitrate, but industrial numbers all seem a bit more conservative (i.e. MSPS rather than GSPS).

As you can see, there are several interesting questions in there. What do you think? How hot are folding ADCs today? Do you have any experience from start-up innovation in relation to the big companies? How do you translate between data sheet specs and academic paper performance?

Anyone from “the big houses” wish to comment? How would you handle great innovations emerging in a small start-up external to your company? Adopt, buy-out or ignore? And how should we view commercial data sheet specs compared to scientific papers? Should we even try to “translate” between the two, or are these better seen as parallel universes?

… and I felt it deserved a dedicated post where you can all have your say. So, what do you all think? And what other companies have you heard of? Do you even agree with steve that it is these six that dominate? If not, who are?

Edit: I’ll be working on the list(s) below, trying to get it as complete as I possibly can. With your help it should work. Just keep suggesting data converter companies to add here. My proposal is to limit the list to companies that provide stand-alone data converters and/or data converter IP. Companies providing data-converter related design services and expert consulting could of course be interesting too, and perhaps go into a second list. [That way I can include my own company, ADMS Design too 😉 ]

Edit 2011-04-09: As you might have heard, Texas Instruments is to acquire National Semiconductor. Read more about it here.

And then there were only five … 😉

The “Big Six”

As the question was asked by steve, we get the following list of six US data converter companies – dubbed the “Big Six” by jjwikner below – that (supposedly) dominate the ADC and DAC market. Here in alphabetical order:

The list is not written in stone. Have your say below. Should it be the big 3, 4, 5, 7 instead? How about data converter IP dominance – is that a completely different list of companies? And don’t forget the original question: why are all of these companies US-based? Something in the US water? Engineering tradition? Business culture? Choice of target applications? Are the leading Asian companies keeping their designs for in-house use, or did they simply bypass the stand-alone converter phase altogether? Are they now positioning themselves for the inevitable embedded data converter era by developing IP blocks for SoC designs?

The complete list?

To the best of my knowledge, and with the kind help of my blog readers, this is the “complete list” (*) of companies offering data converter IP or stand-alone parts. Again, in alphabetical order, and with the Big Six included:

(*) Allow the list a reasonable settling time constant, and please send me an email or post a comment below if you know of any company not included in the list, or have any other remarks.

NB: I have not necessarily made an assessment of the individual companies included in the list, and the list is therefore no statement of the quality or suitability of the products/IP offered for a particular purpose, nor an endorsement of the company itself.

The list seems very US and Euro-centric, but that’s my current horizon. I’m sure there must be some Asian companies out there. Scientific activity actually suggests that Asia is going to take over this business eventually. So, please enlighten me! Where are those Asian companies?